Market Sentiment: S&P 500 to complete biggest Q1 gain since 1998

Yet another multi-year record, to add to the long list of historical and multi-year records I've posted here during the past several months. And of course, the bigger the rally, the more convinced market participants become about how low valuations are, how great the prospects for the economy and industry is, and what bargain prices people are getting:

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose, extending the biggest first-quarter rally in 13 years for the Standard &Poor’s 500 Index, as a report showing companies added more workers in March bolstered optimism about the economy.
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“Given the beginning of a strong cyclical recovery in the U.S. and a tougher environment in many of these other international markets, it seems to us like a good place for investors to be,” said Connor Browne, who oversees about $5 billion as co-manager of the Thornburg Value Fund at Thornburg Investment Management Inc. in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “We’re positively inclined toward valuations and fundamentals for the U.S. market.”

The S&P 500 is poised to complete a third straight quarterly advance and is headed for its biggest gain in the January-March period since 1998, when the index surged 14 percent. The benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks is trading for about 13.7 times its companies’ estimated operating earnings, compared with an average multiple of 18.1 times reported profits over the last decade, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

H/T SS for sending me the link.